


For Now (or; How to Teach Your Boyfriend to Cut an Onion In Five Easy Steps)

by tattedmariposa



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Canon Timeline, Cooking Lessons, Domestic, Established Relationship, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 17:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3496295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattedmariposa/pseuds/tattedmariposa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An evening in the kitchen with Yosuke means casual cooking lessons, a touch of lighthearted gossip about their friends, and the fine art of romantic vegetable chopping. And Yu thinks it's all perfect that way - until it's not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Now (or; How to Teach Your Boyfriend to Cut an Onion In Five Easy Steps)

**Author's Note:**

> Another tumblr meme fic! The prompt for this one was "things you said at the kitchen table," but it ended up being more about the kitchen in general.

"Yu, are these small enough?"

Yu set the papers in his hands back on the kitchen table - Dojima-san had left it such a mess - and turned around to the counter. He peered over Yosuke's shoulder, down at a cutting board littered with small piles of chopped vegetables.

"Yeah, that's fine. Try to cut the carrots a little more evenly though. The bigger pieces won't cook as fast." 

Yosuke looked back at him with a nod before grabbing another carrot, and Yu, assessing the progress he'd made so far, decided to leave cleaning the table for later. He walked over to the fridge, gathering a few more necessary ingredients and setting those on the counter as well.

"Milk and butter?"

"Yeah, I thought you could try making a roux this time." He paused in unwrapping a stick of butter, eyes falling on Yosuke's hands with a bit of concern. "Watch your fingers, don't forget to curve them inward while you cut."

Yosuke did so, but he frowned, throwing Yu a sideways glance. "That sounds hard. Don't you ever use that premade mix stuff? We sell like seven different kinds over at the store. I know, because I've stocked them." All Yu did was stare back, blankly, until Yosuke's face cracked in a wide grin. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you're too good for that."

"It's not that hard," Yu tried to assure him, lopping off the amount of butter he needed. He cut it into smaller chunks before placing them in the bottom of a cold saucepan, and went about rewrapping the rest. "It can burn easily if you're careless, but all you have to do is watch and stir."

"Dude, you say that like I'm _not_ totally careless," Yosuke snorted, but at the same time he seemed fine with it. "Well, if you say so. I guess I can give it a shot. Oh, hey," he added, pulling Yu's attention away from the cabinet that held the flour. "How do you do that cool thing with chopping up onions anyway? Where it all holds together until the last few cuts?"

"I can show you." He placed the flour canister down, along with a set of measuring cups, while Yosuke pushed the last of the carrot pieces to the far end of the cutting board with the flat of the knife. Yu paused behind him again, and before Yosuke could move aside or either of them could think better of it, he said, "Wait, stay there."

"Uh." Yosuke went very still, but he didn't move or object. "Okay, sure."

It helped that Yu was a bit taller. He reached over Yosuke's arms, gently took the knife out of his grasp with one hand and reached for the waiting onion with the other. It felt enough like an embrace that he figured it was okay to rest his head lightly on Yosuke's shoulder.

"First, you cut the top off, on the stem side." He did so, slowly and carefully, both because he wasn't used to preparing food while working around another body, and so that Yosuke could observe. "Then - leaving the root side on for now - you peel the skin off." He watched Yosuke's fingers curl restlessly on the edge of the counter, felt the nerves in the set of his shoulders. "Here, you do that part."

"Oh. Um. All right." The onion skin crinkled away, and Yosuke turned it in his hands a bit to get a good look. "Like that?"

"That's perfect. And now you cut it down the middle--" Yu picked up the knife again, making a single clean cut and setting one half aside for a moment, "--and then you make some lengthwise slices. Only most of the way, though. Not all the way through the root end."

"Ohhh, I see now. That's what keeps it together, huh."

"Exactly." He stopped, blinked a few times, and awkwardly wiped his eyes against the upper part of his own sleeve. Yosuke laughed, completely unsympathetic, turning slightly within the loose confines of Yu's arms.

"Crying kinda ruins the mood, partner."

"But I always feel so sorry for them, the poor things," Yu said, as seriously as he could manage. Yosuke snorted at him and lightly knocked their heads together, and it was even better than if he'd laughed again.

Standing together like that felt a little strange, Yu thought, especially with the way he had to hold his arms differently, but Yosuke's back was warm and his hair smelled faintly like familiar perfumed citrus, where it brushed against the side of Yu's face. It wasn't so bad, to say the least - though it might've been a little distracting too, the way Yosuke started to relax against him. 

"Oh, I should've asked - do you want to try?" He had already started on the crosswise slices, without even thinking about it.

"S'cool. I'll get it next time." Yosuke turned his head toward Yu as he answered, and their faces touched - he could feel Yosuke's light breath against the side of his nose, and he reminded himself to concentrate on the cutting board. "Man, how do you cut so fast? You're so much better at this than me."

Yu hummed in consideration. "With a kitchen knife, maybe. You still have your kunai."

"Haha, yeah. Remember when I tried to twirl your paring knife in the air, that one time?" Yosuke joked about it now, but Yu mostly remembered the argument they'd had, small as it was in hindsight. Yosuke went on, sighing. "Meh. You'd probably be great with those too."

"Not at first, I wouldn't. It's all just practice. I've had lots of chances to cook for myself, that's all." Yu stopped himself there, trying to think of something else to say - he was in a good mood, and didn't feel like going down that particular road right then. "And you've come a long way, since you started cooking with me."

"I don't know, partner, it could just be-- oh, what was that called again. From history a few days ago. Remember, when Sofue-sensei called on me and you bailed me out for like the billionth time?"

Yu remembered. He was a little pleased that Yosuke did too. "Perception bias?" 

"Yeah, that. I mean," Yosuke leaned a tiny bit to the side, just enough so that Yu could see him smirk out of the corner of his eye, "I'm not sure if messing up less than the girls means I'm exactly _good_ at it…"

"Well," Yu said mildly, mostly concentrating on a potato that Yosuke hadn't gotten to yet, "you can follow instructions, you don't overspice to the point of causing third-degree mouth burns… and you won't even look at fish, so adding seafood and squid ink to everything isn't an issue. That all counts for something, in my book."

"Ugh. Do you think that's what put Mystery Food X over the top?"

"Now, now, they're our friends and they meant well," he chided lightly, even as he found himself smiling along. It occurred to Yu right then that he didn't think he'd really care if Yosuke was worse in the kitchen than Chie and Yukiko and Rise combined. Or, well, maybe he'd care a little. But mostly it was a nice realization, and he basked in it, for the span of a few strokes of his knife, the warmth of being so content in Yosuke's company. 

"Anyway. I think you're being too hard on yourself." Scraping a stray peel aside, Yu went on, because he felt right then like it should be said. "And I think you should keep up with it, if you enjoy it."

"I do. Maybe not as much as you, but… yeah. It's been… really nice." 

Yu smiled to himself again, because hearing that felt pretty good too. "I'm glad." 

"It's just--"

It didn't escape his notice that Yosuke had gone still again, that his body, where it fell between Yu's arms, was stiff as a board. 

"Just what?"

"You won't be around to help me much longer."

The steady clicks of the knife on the cutting board came to a halt. And Yosuke scrambled to fill the space left behind almost as fast, before Yu could manage to get a single word out.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Yu. I shouldn't've said that."

"You don't have to apologize."

He meant it - it wasn't as though it wasn't the truth, and it wasn't as though it was Yosuke's fault either - but the new silence that spread itself between them was smothering. Not knowing what else to do, Yu made his hands start moving once more, in a vain attempt to hide his uncertainty behind some diced potato.

"Now I ruined the mood for real," Yosuke mumbled.

"It's all right," Yu told him automatically, even though he could sense perfectly well that it wasn't. It felt almost cold, that sharp stab of reality, as it settled within him - piercing right where he didn't want it, through the happy little bubble that had been the kitchen counter.

Though maybe, in some sense, it was better that way, to have it out in the open. He didn't want to ruin their night, not when their remaining time alone like this was at a premium. But if Yu had learned anything over the past year, it was that nothing good ever came of pretending things were okay when they weren't.

"I would stay here," he said, quietly. "If it were up to me."

"I know. I--" 

Yosuke turned his face toward Yu, this time shifting enough that Yu had to stop what he was doing. Their eyes fell upon each other for a second at a strange angle, and Yosuke hovered there for a moment, like he wasn't sure of himself either - and then he kissed Yu on the cheek, briefly, but soft and lingering. 

"I know you would."

Several breaths passed them by and they stayed like that, Yosuke leaning heavily against him now. Yu didn't dare to move, not except to wipe one hand on his apron, so that he could wind an arm firmly around Yosuke's waist without worrying about potato debris. He didn't know what to do with the knife in the meantime, so he just let it rest in the other.

It was Yosuke, eventually, who broke their mutual lull. "Here," he said, "let me have the next one." And this time it was him who carefully took the knife from Yu, as he leaned over just enough to show that he was making an effort to smile. "I'm never going to learn to cook properly if I don't keep at it, right?"

"Right," Yu murmured, almost absently. He started to drop his other arm, but Yosuke caught him, holding the two of them as they were.

"Wait." Yosuke's voice sounded so low then, and his head was inclined toward the chopping board, further down than he needed to be. "Stay. For a little longer."

Yu wondered at first if he should say something else to push away the quiet. He thought about it as he watched Yosuke begin cutting into a second potato, starting by squaring off the sides just as Yu had taught him for past meals, and more than a few possibilities floated through his head - mostly things about how much he was going to miss his friends, miss where he was, miss the comfort of all the easy silences that had passed by in Yosuke's company. 

Maybe that was why, in the end, all he did was press his face harder into the warmth and solidity of Yosuke's shoulder. And, for a just little longer, he stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> For what it's worth, I really like cooking in my spare time too... though after all of that, it might not be much of a surprise. (This might be part of why Yu is my favorite.)
> 
> The recipe they started to make here is [cream stew](http://www.littlejapanmama.com/2011/09/japanese-cream-stew-recipe.html), which is, incidentally, one of the dishes you can make for lunch in the game. I chose it for this because I thought it sounded good (maybe I'll make a vegetarian version for myself someday!), and also because it seemed like something that Yosuke would actually eat. :P And if anyone's curious, [here’s a video](http://allrecipes.com/video/38/how-to-master-basic-knife-skills/detail.aspx) where you can see some of the kitchen knife skills that Yu was going on and on about.


End file.
